Chapter 17

17

Gene’s sister stood right there in the door, a bag in her hand and a determined look on her adorable little face. Genesis was the heart of them all, even if she didn’t realize it. Gene just looked at her and waited. “Genny, what in the hell are you doing here?”

It was going to take him a while to remember what Chantal had said. Genesis was Genny now. Gene was going to do his best to respect that.

“I’m here to keep you company in this seriously awesome place,” his sister announced, giving Chantal a significant look.

“Her parents are right next door. And I’m on the other side,” Gene said. He knew better than to even attempt to budge his sister when she had that stubborn look. “I don’t think she needs a babysitter.”

“Well, here I am. You aren’t getting rid of me. I had Aubrey drop me off here instead of driving me all the way home. So... you’re stuck with my wonderful presence. Let’s poke around. I have never even known there was a family wing up here in this place. No one really talks about the penthouse level. I wonder if all the Barratt Hotels have family suites on the top floor? That would be seriously awesome.”

“This suite is owned by the sheriff of Value—Clay Addy,” Chantal said. “Charlotte is friends with Bailey. Gene and Calvin are in the mayor of Finley Creek’s suite.”

“Sweet. I’ll be there in a bit to kiss Calvin before bed. But for now, Gene, go away. Chantal and I want to talk girl stuff and explore this suite.”

“Just don’t leave the floor without me.” He wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of his baby sister being here tonight. Not that he’d intended to sneak in and seduce Chantal or anything—not with his son in a strange place. But he didn’t want Genesis near anything that might happen if Charlie was wrong. It was as simple as that. “At all. I’m not going to risk anything happening to either of you. Not on my watch.”

“You’re so cute when you go caveman overprotective, big brother. Now... get out, please. Chantal and I are going to party Barratt style. Who knows, maybe there are some hot Barratt gazillionaires up here somewhere we can seduce... There is this one who is an archaeologist. I saw him at FCU once when I was picking up Greer. Talk about hot tamales. His name is Trevor. I think he’s the mayor of Finley Creek’s brother or something. I could really enjoy meeting a Trevor, I think. The other brother is the movie producer that’s always in the Garlic , Chan. We can marry rich brothers, then we can be sisters forever! Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

Genesis always had been trouble.

He was going to get a padlock. Lock her in her room until she was fifty or something. It was the only sane thing a man could do with a baby sister like Genesis Isabella Hiller.

Chantal turned toward Genny the instant Gene was gone. “Okay, spill. What’s really going on? I know something most definitely is.”

“Your horrible, arrogant, pain-in-the-rear-end brother Chad-wicked Fields is threatening to seduce me, actually. He says he’s going to get me, Chan. I’m hiding before I do something stupid, like jump his bones. Or let him jump mine. Both of which would have seriously bad repercussions I’m not ready to even think about right now.”

Chantal just gawked. “You aren’t Chad’s type.”

“Trust me, I know that.” Genny grimaced after she said it. Chantal knew what the younger woman was thinking. Genny had absolutely no confidence as a woman whatsoever, thanks to an ex-boyfriend who’d done a number on her.

“Not that there is anything wrong with you, Gen. Far from it. It’s just… he likes the no-strings kind of women.” Who was she supposed to be loyal to here—the best friend she loved and knew better than anyone else on the planet, or the brother who was a bit of an ass with women at times?

“I know. That’s part of the problem. I’ve been with a man like that before, remember?”

Chantal did. And she despised that man for how he had hurt Genny. Actually telling her he’d only been with her because he couldn’t "get" one of her sisters. Genny had already felt less than her sisters for some reason. That blow had done some serious damage that Chantal and Aubrey were trying to repair.

Chantal adored her older brother, but Chad was thirty-six years old. Closer to thirty-seven. He hadn’t ever gotten serious about a decent woman, and she didn’t see him doing so anytime soon.

The last woman she wanted with her brother was one of her best friends. She didn’t want Genny hurt that way.

Genny was made for a decent man, for a man who adored her, and treated her like the unbelievably special woman she was. Chantal didn’t think Chad was actually capable of that. He was a wonderful man—no doubt about that. But when it came to romance… no.

She didn’t think he would be good for Genny at all.

Maybe.

Well, unless he was serious, anyway. Then it could be a whole new ballgame, really.

“Do you want me to say something to him?”

“No way. First, I can handle your brother by myself. I think. Second, he would just take it as a challenge. He’s enjoying the hunt, I just know it. I just need a place to regroup. To restrategize.”

Well, that would work out best for Chantal, too. She wasn’t about to tell Genny that Genny’s own brother was being far more problematic than she wanted to think about.

Something was so different about Gene now; of course, she didn’t trust it was real. It was some sort of reaction—an overreaction—to what had happened to them out there. That was all that really made sense.

She wasn’t ready to delve into anything else right now. She just wasn’t. She had her own issues to work through after almost dying.

It felt like it had that day she’d passed out, when she’d been with Aubrey and Genny in Finley Creek. She’d told her parents she’d stayed over at Aubrey’s to help her friend paint her living room—she’d actually stayed overnight in the hospital. With Aubrey and Genny by her side. They had taken her to the closest emergency room in Finley Creek. And they’d run tests. Found the answers about why Chantal had felt so tired the few weeks before. They’d found it. And then she’d had to figure out what came next.

She was still finding her way. Making the right changes necessary. With Aubrey and Genny’s help, she had figured things out and was doing great now. Well, until being abducted, anyway.

And now her family knew. Her mom was going to hover again. Worse than she ever had before. It was what her mom did when she was afraid.

The last thing Chantal needed to deal with was… Gene.

But that man had been about to kiss her. Chantal wasn’t exactly naive where men were concerned, after all. She knew when a man was about to kiss her.

She’d just never imagined Gene would, though.

And that required some restrategizing of her own.

Just what had that man thought he had been doing?